Conventional faceplate covers are generally placed over wall apertures to protect a user from accidentally contacting an electrical circuit, as well as to beautify the wall aperture. Faceplates typically have apertures formed therein to allow switches, receptacles, phone jacks, data ports, video connectors and the like to pass through. With so many kinds of receptacle, switches and ports routed through wall apertures, it has become increasingly difficult to determine the routing, or type of circuit, that is being covered by a faceplate.
One such solution has been to attach removable labels to the outside of the faceplate cover at the time it is installed. The drawback to this exterior labeling schema is, for example, that the labels can fall off, the labels are not attractive, or the labels do not accurately reflect the nature of the wiring.
Another labeling solution is to use faceplates having permanently marked indicia. For example, if the receptacle is a ground fault circuit interrupter, or GFCI, the faceplate cover can be imprinted with "GFCI PROTECTED". However, these are costly specialty items that need to be ordered ahead of time, and real-time changes to wiring plans during the buildout of a space can lead to the need for faceplates having different pre-marked indicia.
With the increase in the number of wired outlets in the home and office, for example, phone/data lines for computers, etc., it is becoming increasingly important to properly label and identify the nature of the receptacle or access port. Many of the wires are labeled with attached tags, or labels placed directly on the receptacle, jack, port, or the like, which are hidden behind faceplate covers.
Examples of prior art receptacles and faceplates are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,594,206 to Klas et al., 5,212,899 to Fandreyer, 5,180,886 to Dierenbach et al., 4,479,317 to Hanna, 2,625,759 to Koepke, and 1,930,610 to Despard.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a faceplate cover that will allow rapid identification of a receptacle, jack, port and the like following installation of the faceplate cover. Additionally, there exists a need for rapid identification of the circuitry behind a faceplate cover. This invention addresses these needs as well as other needs, which will become apparent from this disclosure.